Lotus in racing last weekend, 14/15 April

The Lotus F1 Team embarked on an aggressive
strategy in Shanghai that saw both drivers pit
twice. The gamble worked for Romain Grosjean,
who improved on his tenth place grid slot to
come home sixth, while Kimi Raikkonen fell back.
The Finn started an excellent fourth place and
ran as high as second during laps 41 to 47.
Having pitted for the second set of medium tyres
four laps before Romain, he suffered huge
degradation and was swamped by his rivals during
the final laps. Grosjean’s sixth place yields
eight points – the first of his F1 career.

Kimi Raikkonen: “Up until the last ten laps it
was looking quite good, but we ran out of tyre
performance at the end. We had good pace in the
race, we tried a different strategy and it
didn’t pay off. It’s as simple as that.”

Romain Grosjean: “It was a very good race, I
really enjoyed it. To be up there fighting with
McLaren and Red Bull is a great feeling and I’m
happy to have got my season started properly.
We’ve had high hopes since P3 on the grid in
Melbourne, and now after a few setbacks it’s
time to aim higher.”

Indycar - Long Beach Grand Prix

A tough weekend for the Lotus-engined teams in
California. Having been sidelined for much of
practice and qualifying due to bad weather and a
water pump issue, Lotus HVM’s Simona di
Silvestro suffered an engine failure 11 laps
from the end of the 85 lap race, demoting her to
20th. Lotus Team Barracuda BHA’s Alex Tagliani,
who qualified tenth, struggled during the race
and was also hit by EJ Viso, forcing him to pit
for a new front wing. Ultimately, he retired and
registered 21st place. Lotus Dragon Racing’s
Sebastien Bourdais finished 17th after hitting a
tyre wall and losing two laps. His team-mate,
Katherine Legge, also lost her front wing – she
crossed the line in 19th. The highest Lotus
finisher was DDR’s Oriol Servia. He dropped two
laps due to a kafuffle in the pits, but passed
champion Dario Franchitti on the last lap for
15th. However, a car pile-up bumped him back
down to 16th, after he stalled and needed his
crew to push him across the finish line.

Oriol Servia, Lotus DDR: “We lost a wheel nut
and that's what put us two laps down. Not the
best day out there, but I'm really happy with
the team, they kept their heads down and in the
end that's what will give us the results."

Alex Tagliani, Lotus Team Barracuda BHA: “I
think the car was decent in the race. We made
some passes and I think the car would have been
good to have a decent finish if we ran the whole
race.”

Simona De Silvestro, Lotus HVM Racing: “We had
issues in practice and qualifying and only ran
like six laps total going into the race, so we
were excited to be running such a great race. We
had good pit stops and only 11 laps to go when
we lost the engine, so it’s really frustrating.
Not fun!”

Sebastien Bourdais, Lotus Dragon Racing: “I lost
the car on brakes, lost the rear, and went
sideways. By then, it was too late, I was in the
tyre wall. I thought for sure the car was all
broken, but when I checked for damage, there was
nothing, When the safety team got me going, I
was two laps down, but decided to bring it
home.”

American Le Mans Series - Long Beach

Lotus AJR’s Evora took the chequered flag in its
first ALMS race at the weekend, at Long Beach.
Bill Sweedler was at the wheel at the start of
the race and was hit from behind as he braked to
avoid a stopped car. He was spun around and
then, moments later, hit for a second time which
caused severe damage to the exhaust and robbed
the Evora of valuable horsepower. The crew made
repairs, but Sweedler and team-mate Townsend
Bell were down several laps. They soldiered on
to take the flag.

Bill Sweedler: “It was an unfortunate start.
There was pile up in the Fountain Turn, I got
hit from behind by a GTC car and he spun me. I
was getting back underway when a prototype came
in and hit me harder. That caused the exhaust
pipe to be crimped by about 90-degrees, so we
were putting out about one-tenth of the
horsepower. The guys did a good job to make the
repairs and keep us going.”

Townsend Bell: “The team hustled and worked hard
to replace the exhaust and keep us in the race.
It was nice for me to go out and drive this car
against competition for the first time. We have
a long list of things to work on with this car.
We are realistic about the challenge ahead of
us. I got to ride around the streets of Long
Beach in a fast Lotus today, so that wasn't all
bad.”

Lotus Cup UK

The Lotus Cup UK and Elise Trophy seasons got
underway at Silverstone this weekend. In the
Elise Trophy races Steve Quick and Rob Boston
took one win each, whilst Martin Donnelly and
Steve Williams (owner and fellow co-driver of SW
Lotus) achieved a great result for the debut of
their newly built GTN Evora S race car which was
up against some well established competition and
secured a ‘best in class’ victory.

Martin Donnelly commented “Qualifying went very
well considering the car had only just been
completed that morning! I am very please with
the result, we where third overall and fastest
in class which is incredible considering the
timeframe we had to get the car ready! With some
more track time between now and our next race at
Brands Hatch which supports the German DTM
Championship we will be looking for the out
right win.”